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Art & Design: Containers
Bronze zun - ritual wine vessel from Hunan province, southern China 13th-12th century BC
Guide for teachers 1
Art and Design: Containers Introduction
Art & Design guides for teachers The collection of the British Museum has inspired artists for hundreds of years and is a rich source of ideas and stimulation for teachers and students alike. This series of ten guides is intended to help primary and secondary teachers to use the objects in the British Museum collection for teaching art & design. This will support students’ research skills, knowledge and understanding in order to make their practical work more meaningful and contextualised. Each guide focuses on a topic. Each topic is analysed through four or five themes, each of which is illustrated with a museum object, from different historical periods and world cultures. These topics, themes and objects have been specially chosen so that you and your students can use them as starting points to explore the collection further, either at the Museum or online. Each guide ends with points for classroom discussion and brief ideas for starting off activities and projects. The guides in the series are: 1 Containers 2 Sculpture 3 Textiles 4 Symbols 5 Celebration 6 The natural world 7 Identity 8 Gods and spirits 9 Objects in motion 10 Death and the afterlife Most of the objects have been chosen from the Museum’s online database, available through: www.britishmuseum.org/explore/introduction.aspx. There you can find high quality images which can be copied into your own presentations for the classroom or for students to download.
Contextual understanding
In order to develop their critical thinking, students should examine the following when considering any museum object:
Origin: Who made it? Where and when was it made? Materials: What is it made from? Process: How was it made? Function: What was it used for? Meaning: What does it mean?
Once students have understood the context, they can analyse the form and decoration of the object which are usually determined or influenced by all these aspects.
Art and Design: Containers Introduction
World cultures
The guides are not based around a particular cultural or geographical region. If you wish to focus your study on, for example, objects from Africa then use the list below, where the guides which contain objects from particular regions have been grouped. Africa Death and the afterlife, Gods and spirits, Identity, Sculpture, Symbols, Textiles. The Americas Celebration, Containers, Gods and spirits, Symbols, Textiles, Natural World. Asia Celebration, Containers, Death and the afterlife, Gods and spirits, Objects in motion, Sculpture. Europe Celebration, Containers, Death and the afterlife, Gods and Spirits, Identity, Objects in motion, Sculpture, Textiles, Natural World. Middle East Gods and spirits, Sculpture, Natural World. Oceania Containers, Death and the afterlife, Gods and spirits, Sculpture, Symbols, Natural World.
Cross-curricular links Citizenship Many of these topics tap into citizenship themes such as local and national identity, globalisation and global issues, and the impact of the media. History The objects are from a variety of historical contexts and periods. Research and discussions about the use of clothing for status and the importance of symbols are central to exploring images as evidence in history. Geography Examining objects from specific cultures is an excellent way of understanding how humans interact and cope with living and surviving in different environments.
Religious Education Many of these objects have some spiritual significance. Those relating to the afterlife and deities are ideal starting points for considering similarities and differences in belief systems.
Art and Design: Containers Themes
Containers Containers, in all their shapes, forms and sizes, are fundamental to human
survival. They are used in every area of life, from transporting and serving foods,
liquids and goods, to preserving human and animal remains. In other instances,
they are purely ornamental and cease to contain anything at all.
Inspiration from the animal world Once artists have mastered the process of making containers, they are able to
develop and embellish the form that they take. For ceremonial or ritual vessels,
the decorative appearance of the object is of the utmost importance as the
container is likely only to be moved short
distances and left on an altar or in a tomb.
The beauty of the container is integral to
the prestige of the offering. In many
cultures, craftsmen have taken inspiration
from animals both for their form but also
the symbolism of the animal. The ram in
China had several meanings and was
associated with peace and harmony.
This bronze zun was a vessel for holding
wine which would have been buried with
its owner, offering food and wine for their
ancestors. It was cast in bronze, a highly valued material, and required skilled
craftsmen. The design of the vessel uses the shape of two rams, with their
heads as handles and legs keeping the vessel upright, thus the form of the
animal is both decorative and practical. These rams are notably lifelike in their
body shape. The vessel is decorated in a simple regular pattern, with more
intricate symmetrical designs on the face.
Art and Design: Containers Themes
Containers for transport Containers enable humans to survive and
prosper. Moving food, water and goods in
quantities away from their original source
allowed humans create settlements and
begin to trade, thus creating economies.
When creating a container for different
purposes, the materials must be carefully
selected for suitability – e.g. permeability,
weight, how can it be stored, what is
available and in what quantities. This
container has a particular purpose – that of carrying a baby to enable the mother
to continue her daily routine. It has been carefully designed to be both
decorative and functional – it consists of a board, a footrest and a decorated
fabric hoop to hold the baby in place. The baby would be wrapped in moss or
rabbit skin, then covered in deerskin and tied into the cradle. The decorated
hoop has toys added to it – in this case bells and porcupine skins. The cradle
could be worn or leant against a tree, protecting the child when the parent carried
out necessary activities such as berry picking nearby.
Protecting, storing and displaying objects Containers can be developed not only to
protect and preserve objects, but also organise
them systematically. Depending on the type of
container, they might include drawers, pockets
and other such compartments to enable the
user to organise themselves. This specimen
tray was once a drawer and part of the cabinet
of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) whose
collection provided part of the foundation of the
British Museum.
Art and Design: Containers Themes
Sloane was a doctor and also a collector who needed to store his array of objects
and medicines carefully. This drawer had small compartments which contains
stones, powders, metals, some of which have more containers within them –
glazed boxes with seeds, fruit, bark, roots, gums and resins inside. The cabinet
was carefully designed to protect the objects inside from destructive insects.
Coffins – containers for the afterlife A practice common to many cultures throughout history has
been the desire to protect and preserve the bodies or remains
of the dead to honour their passing. These are often buried
for hygienic as well as spiritual reasons. The design of coffins
varies widely but another common feature is the plethora of
symbols depicted on them which tell us about the belief
system from which the body came. This hollow log coffin of
the Liygawumirr people is called Mululu, the name of the wild
cherry tree it is made from. It is made from a tree that has
been hollowed by termites. It is painted with designs
associated with the family group. These log coffins and the
rituals around them ensure that the spirit makes its final
transition to the land of the dead. The rituals also comfort
those who mourn. In Eastern Arnhem land, home of this
practice, the last ritual takes place some years after death
when the bones are now dry. They are then painted with red
ochre, broken and placed in a hollow log coffin such as this
one. As this happens, relatives of the deceased dance, acting
out the soul’s hazardous journey to the land of the dead. The
coffin was then left to stand upright and would gradually be
worn away by the weather.
Art and Design: Containers Activities and art projects
General discussion
• Start by identifying with the students the basic meaning of a container and
explore the different types of function.
• Then move on to more unusual ideas. One can consider a museum as a huge
container or a house containing its family or a mask as containing the face –
think of other examples such as these.
• Ask the students to imagine life without containers – what wouldn’t they be able
to do?
Projects and activities Primary Animals Ask the students to explore what parts of containers animals or parts of animals
have been used to represent and why. Then they can make their own containers
using animal features.
Conversion Collect used containers and then the students alter and decorate them to create
a container for another purpose, e.g. an egg carton as a desk tidy.
Art and Design: Containers Activities and art projects
Secondary
Natural containers Explore objects, such as trees, craters, tunnels which have been hollowed out;
use the inspiration of hollowing out (and where the substance goes which has
disappeared) to create a multimedia montage.
Containment Have a discussion with students about the different implications of containment;
starting from objects, move into discussions of containing people – prisons, ships,
coffins etc and of the feelings that emerge from restriction.
Art and Design: Containers Illustrations
Illustrations Bronze zun - ritual wine vessel from Hunan province, southern China Shang dynasty, 13th-12th century BC height 43 cm Ojibwa Cradle Algonquian style from Great Lakes region of Minnesota, North America before AD 1825 Hans Sloane's specimen tray from England first half of the 18th century AD 45 x 45 cm Painted hollow log coffin Liygawumirr clan From Arnhem land, Northern Territory, Australia 1980s Length about 3 metres
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